Second Sunday of Advent
BARUCH 5:1-9
Jerusalem, take off your robe of sorrow and distress, and put on forever the splendor of the glory from God. Wrap yourself in the cloak of the righteousness that comes from God, and set the diadem of the glory of the Eternal on your head. For God will show your splendor to every nation under heaven. God will give you a name forever: “Peace in Righteousness” and “Glory in Piety.”
Arise, Jerusalem, stand upon the height, and look toward the east, and see your children gathered from east to west at the voice of the Holy One, rejoicing at the remembrance of God. They went out from you on foot, led away by enemies, but God will bring them back to you, carried in glory, as on a royal chariot.
For God has commanded that every high mountain and the everlasting hills be made low, and the valleys filled up, to make level ground, so that Israel may walk safely in the glory of God. The forests and every fragrant tree have been commanded by God to give shade to Israel. For God will lead Israel with joy, in the light of his glory, with the mercy and righteousness that come from him.
This is clearly a text of consolation addressed to the Jews exiled in Babylon; it contains the promise of future liberation, the restoration of the ancient glory of Israel through the return to the homeland.
It is expressed with beautiful symbols: like a great procession of return, before which the mountains are made low and the valleys are filled, while the people walk toward the homeland guided by the glory of God, like a new Exodus.
All of this is merely a literary device, because the text was written in a late period, perhaps even toward the 1st century B.C., which turns it from a prophetic book into a Wisdom book, which is not part of the Hebrew canon. The author (in reality, the authors) adopts the name of Baruch, disciple of Jeremiah, as a continuator of the preaching and literary forms of the Prophet of the Exile.
Therefore, the themes and symbols of the exile (the punishment of God for infidelity, the exhortation to penance, the promise of restoration) are taken up again to revive the memory of the people and urge them to fulfill the Law.
The passage we read today is brought into the context of the Eucharist by the coincidence of the expressions “that every high mountain and the everlasting hills be made low, and the valleys filled up, to make level ground …” with the verses of Isaiah (40:3-5) that are cited in the Gospel of Luke.
PHILIPPIANS 1:3-11
Whenever I pray for you, I do so with great joy, because you have been my collaborators in the work of the Gospel, from the first day until now. This is our confidence: that the one who began the good work in you will carry it on until the day of Christ Jesus.
And it is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I hold you in my heart, as you are all partakers of my grace, both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the Gospel. For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and full insight, to help you determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
Philippi is a city in Macedonia, the first European city evangelized by Paul, around the year 49. It was a fervent community, and Paul always remembers it with great affection. Paul probably wrote this letter from Ephesus around the year 54 (other authors lean more toward Rome, year 60). In it, Paul expresses his affection for them and exhorts them to grow and progress in their faith.
We read this text today because of the mention of “the day of Christ Jesus,” understood as the final moment of fullness toward which the spiritual growth that Paul wishes for them is directed.
José Enrique Galarreta, S.J.